Should I give antibiotics to children with colds and colds?

Cold and SARS the average child is sick at least 1-2 times a year. This usually happens when the appropriate season for diseases begins - spring or autumn. And often the parents are asked whether to give the child antibiotics for colds? To understand this, you need to clearly understand what a cold.

In fact, the common cold is hypothermia, as a result of which conditionally pathogenic microflora begins to divide and reproduce at an unprecedented rate in the body.

In most cases, colds are caused by bacteria. And flu, acute respiratory viral infections, herpes simplex virus are viral diseases. ARD can be both bacterial and viral in nature.

However, as in any rule, and there are exceptions. And with ARVI, the pediatric doctor prescribes antibiotics. Why and when does this happen?

With ARVI (acute respiratory viral infection), antibiotics are not required for the child. Antiviral drugs and other medications can be easily treated depending on the symptoms (febrifugal, expectorant, antihistamines). The well-known pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky insists that medicines for a viral infection are not needed, since the child’s immunity must learn to cope with threats from the outside.

You can easily find out what the doctor thinks about this topic by watching this video:

But all this is true only until bacterial infection joins the virus infection. And this happens very often.

To reliably know if a child develops a bacterial infection, a special examination of a throat and nose smear is required. It can be done only in the bacteriological laboratory, and there are not many in each clinic. And if you are lucky and you live in a city where there is such a laboratory, then it will take 10-14 days to wait for the result of the analysis.

It will be very difficult to prove your case here.

Here, it is important for moms and dads to remember that taking antibiotics in case of a viral infection in no way guarantees that the complications of ARVI can be avoided. Scientists have even figured out that there is a certain dependence: patients who, by mistake or delusion, took antibiotics during a viral infection, unwanted complications occurred almost 20% more often. For those who have treated a viral infection with antiviral drugs, negative health effects occur much less frequently.

The idea of ​​a bacterial complication of a viral infection, and, accordingly, the need to prescribe antibiotics, should come to the heads of parents and doctors under certain circumstances in the following cases:

• If a child with ARVI did not feel better on the fifth day after the start of therapy. Or short-term improvement was replaced by a sharp deterioration in health.
• If the baby is less than three months old, and it gets worse with temperature above 38 °, which can not be reduced more than three days.
• If the child has suddenly increased lymph nodes.
• If the cough does not pass more than 10 days.
• If there are purulent mucous discharge from the nose or blotches of pus in the sputum.
• If there is a severe headache and pain in the forehead and maxillary sinuses.
• If there is pain in the ears or fluid from the ears.

In all these cases, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics. The list of some names of drugs that can prescribe your toddler:

• «Flemoxine Solutab». Antibiotic penicillin family. It happens in the form of tablets, which are easily dissolved in water, you can also give the child to swallow them whole or just dissolve. Flemoxin Solutab has a pleasant fruity taste. To prepare a syrup, one tablet is sufficiently dissolved in water (20 ml.), So that the suspension comes out - one tablet is diluted with water in an amount of 100 ml. The amount of the drug for children should be calculated individually, based on the age of the patient, the weight of his body and the characteristics of the course of the disease. Crohn from birth to one year can be given no more than 60 mg. medicines per kilogram of body weight per day. Children from 1 to 3 years old are prescribed 250 ml of the drug (2 doses per day) at equal intervals of time. Children from 3 to 5 years - give 250 mg. Funds three times a day. For young patients aged 5 to 10 years, a single dose of the antibiotic is 375 mg. This amount must be taken two or three times during the day.

• «Amoxiclav». Combined semisynthetic penicillin antibiotic - wagon. It can be given to children from three months. Means at pharmacists can be found in different pharmaceutical forms: dry powder for self-production of suspensions, tablets, powder for preparing oral drops, and dry matter for dilution of injections. The dosage of powder for suspension, in a form that doctors most often try to prescribe an antibiotic to children, must be calculated very carefully. To this end, the manufacturers supplied the packaging with measuring spoons. Scraps from three months to a year give ½ tsp of the prepared solution three times a day. Peanuts from 1 to 7 years old - put a whole teaspoon of suspension (three times a day). School-age children (7-14 years old) - two teaspoons three times a day. Teenagers over the age of 14 are available in Amoxiclav in tablet form.

• «Ecoclav». Antibiotic penicillin family. Available in tablet form and dry matter for self-mixing at home. Children up to 3 months can receive a daily dose of an antibiotic at the rate of 30 mg. drug on 1 kg. weight of the child in 2 doses per day. Babies from 3 months take the medicine three times a day in an average dosage of 20 to 40 mg. an antibiotic on 1 kilogram of weight of the child.The exact dosage depends on the degree of complexity of the disease. Children weighing more than 40 kilograms can take adult doses of medication.

• Augmentin. Universal semi-synthetic penicillin antibiotic. The pharmacist is present in the form of tablets in the shell, powder for home suspension manufacturing and dry matter for dilution (for injection). Children are usually prescribed a suspension. To prepare it is simple - add chilled boiled water to the vial to the desired mark. The finished solution should not be stored for longer than 7 days. For babies from 2 to 12 years, the dose of the drug is calculated according to the formula 40 mg. funds for 1kg. weight in three doses per day. Children over 12 years old can take pills. A child from 0 to 2 years old is prescribed the drug with caution, since there are not enough clinical data from tests on children of this age.

• Cefuroxime Axetil. Quite a powerful antibiotic cephalosporin family. In the pharmacy, you can buy granules, from which you can then prepare a suspension. Also, the drug exists in the form of tablets and dry powders for injection. Pediatric dosage of antibiotic is from 30 to 100 mg. funds for 1 kg. body weight of the child. The resulting amount is divided into three to four single doses. Most often, the optimal dosage for treating children is 60 mg. drug per 1 kg of weight of the child. Cromes from 0 to 3 months are usually prescribed a dose of 30 mg. drug on 1 kg. weight baby. The amount is divided into two or three single doses per day.

• «Macropene». Antibiotic macrolide. Available in the form of tablets and granules, from which the suspension is prepared. Tablets do not prescribe to children under three years. Suspension should be taken depending on the weight of the child. If it is less than 5 kilograms, the daily dose is 131 mg, less than 10 kg. - approximately 260 mg. Six-year-old children weighing less than 20 kilograms should take a daily dose not exceeding 520 mg.

There are very effective strong antibiotics "Levofloxacin"," Moxifloxacin ". But they belong to the fluoroquinolone species. Use of all drugs in this group in the treatment of children is strictly prohibited.

As we already understood, a cold is not a specific independent disease, but a whole complex of various symptoms and manifestations caused by hypothermia, a decrease in immunity and, ultimately, an infection - a bacterial one. Less commonly - viral.

Most often, the pathogenic microflora in a frozen or soaked baby begins to be activated in the nasal cavity or mouth.

All these microorganisms feel great against the background of hypothermia baby’s body, baby’s tiredness, stress experienced, general weakening. In a favorable environment, they become "aggressive", so the inflammation of the upper respiratory tract begins. The symptoms of such a cold are also known to everyone, young and old - it's a runny nose and cough.

Unlike a viral infection that starts abruptly and proceeds rapidly, with a high temperature and muscle pain, the bacterial cold will “gain momentum” smoothly. Over the course of several days, symptoms will slowly intensify.

Many doctors believe that prescribing antibacterial therapy for rhinitis is the same as knocking down a sparrow with an airliner — it makes no sense, but is expensive and dangerous. However, with rhinitis, caused by the penetration into the nasal cavity of pathogenic bacteria, sometimes there is a need for such medicines. This usually happens when there is a risk of the bacteria spreading to the nasal sinuses or the inflammatory process has already turned into a purulent (for example, purulent sinusitis).

Macrolide preparations are considered to be good antibiotics in such cases in the common cold:

• "Erythromycin"
• «Clarithromycin»
• "Midecamycin"
• Cefaclor
• "Co-trimoxazole"
• "Zeprozil"

Not bad nasal drops with antibiotics have proven. It is convenient to use them, in addition, the harmful effects of an antibiotic drug on the intestines, the child's liver are minimized, because the medicine gets right “on purpose” - at the epicenter of bacteria multiplication and helps to cure the child quickly.

• "Novoimanin" - drops with natural antibiotic of plant origin. In their composition - extract Hypericum. Available in the form of an alcohol solution (1%). This solution is diluted with glucose, distilled water or sterile anesthesin solution in the proportions indicated in the abstract, and drip into the nose. No side effects have been found in the drops.
• "Framycetin" - drops with an antibiotic aminoglycoside. Available in spray and ready-to-use nasal drops. Children are recommended to use the drug three times a day.
• «Isofra“This drug is non-toxic and can be used to treat even the youngest children. It is produced in the form of a spray, which greatly simplifies the task for parents - it is always easier to splash the medicine than to drip. Apply "Isofra" children can be three times a day.

Cough is a defense mechanism of the body, and it can be a symptom of dozens of different diseases. We'll only talk about cough - a cold companion. Moreover, the satellite is of bacterial origin.

The list of drugs that can be prescribed to the child when coughing is broad:

• «Sumamed»;
• Azitral;
• Azitrus.

• «Hemomycin»;
• «Azithromycin»;
• «Macropene»;
• "Zi-factor";
• Zinatsef;
• "Aksetin";
• "Nitrolide";
• Sumamoks;
• Azitrox.

Sometimes the doctor prescribes inhalations with antibiotic solutions. This is a convenient way to quickly and accurately affect the affected part of the respiratory system. However, inhalation at home is necessary with the help of inhalers, and not improvised. When inhaled with antibiotics, the harm from the drug is also minimized.

• Bioparox is an antibiotic for topical use. Available in ready-to-use aerosol form. Babies over 2.5 years old are prescribed an average of 3 inhalations through the mouth or 1-2 inhalations into each nostril four times a day.
• "Gentamicin". Effective antibiotic in ampoules for the preparation of solutions for the nebulizer. One procedure requires 20 mg of the drug, if the child is already 12 years old. Repeat inhalation need twice a day throughout the course of treatment. Children under 12 years old can take no more than 10 mg antibiotic per procedure.

• Do not prescribe antibiotics yourself or on the advice of your friends.. Which antibiotic is better to give the child, only a specialist knows. Moreover, since 2017, non-prescription trade in antibiotics has been banned in Russia.
• In no case should you stop taking the antibiotic prescribed by the doctor ahead of time, even if the baby has improved significantly and the child is active again and looks quite healthy. In case of abrupt cancellation, only weak bacteria will die, the strongest of them will receive strong immunity to this antibiotic. And the next time you can no longer be treated with this drug, it will not have the desired effect. Usually, a course of antibiotic treatment lasts from 5 to 14 days. How many days to give antibiotics to your child, the doctor knows.

• If you are allergic to an antibiotic, tell your doctor. But do not give allergy medication to the patient (antihistamines).Antibiotics and antihistamines very poorly interact with each other and "steamed" can greatly harm your child.
• Do not try to increase the effect of some antibiotics by others from the same group. It is necessary to be treated with only one antibiotic. If there is a need to start drinking another drug, the doctor will definitely cancel the first one.
• So that the antibiotic harms your child as little as possible, and has a milder effect on the intestinal microflora, it is better to take medications with or without food. Wash down antibiotics should be plenty of water.
• Do not forget to check the expiration date of the drug in your medicine cabinet or when you buy in a pharmacy. An expired antibiotic is very dangerous for a child’s health.

In fact, the common cold is hypothermia, as a result of which conditionally pathogenic microflora begins to divide and reproduce at an unprecedented rate in the body.